Filmstudy - Filmstudy is a sophisticated and comprehensive statistical analysis of the Ravens defense that incorporates a participation-by-play tracking system. This unique analysis is the brain child of the author and provides our readers with the real story behind the Ravens’ top end defensive results in the National Football League. Make Russellstreetreport.com the source for all of your Ravens football news and the forum to talk about what the Ravens fans want to hear most.

Lombardi’s Way - A column from the 24×7 founder that focuses on the Ravens, the NFL, Baltimore, the world of sports or life’s inspirations.

Battle Plans - During the season, you can expect to find thoughtful analysis in each of our Game Previews. We bring out the chalk and then talk X’s and O’s. In the offseason, Dev Panchwagh — The Scientist, digs beneath the surface and serves up insightful commentary on issues facing the Ravens and the NFL. School is in session!

Baltimore would have much more cap space ($14.8 million in 2014, to be exact). They could maybe sign two above average free agents to perhaps bolster their offensive line and/or receiving corps.

Ravens fans get a quarterback that is serious about his craft, spending every waking moment getting to know his new offensive coordinator while leaving his wife and kids at home, never taking a vacation.

Of course, I’m being facetious.

It’s absurd to me that fans and certain media members criticize Flacco for what he’s been doing (or not been doing) this offseason. Do you realize he continued to start every game last year even though he was sacked 48 times (4th-most in the league)?

I think he’s earned some time off.

But why isn’t he at the facility with Gary Kubiak going over schemes and terminology? Well first of all, John Harbaugh said the 2014 Ravens offense would be just that—the Ravens offense, not Gary Kubiak’s offense. Second of all, we’re less than two weeks removed from the Super Bowl. The season just ended. Players have a minute amount of time to themselves during the season, so this is the time they use to unwind and enjoy life.

Make up your mind. Do you want an adroit leader or do you want someone who flails around, makes demonstrative faces, is always serious and gets average results?

Why don’t I hear the same criticism toward other Ravens whose contracts carry huge cap figures? What about players like Ray Rice and Torrey Smith? Why aren’t they meeting with Kubiak? Arian Foster and Andre Johnson were among the NFL’s best running backs and wide receivers (respectively) while being coached by Kubiak.

Shouldn’t Rice and Smith recognize that and get to work right away?

No knock against Rice and Smith, as they are tremendous workers. The point is that just because a star player isn’t attached at the hip with a new coach doesn’t mean they don’t care or that they won’t put in plenty of hours breaking down film and figuring out the best plan of attack at the appropriate time.

What do you want from Flacco? Seriously, what more does he need to do to earn your respect and have you stop criticizing him? Maybe you’ve made up your mind that you’ll never support him, which seems odd since you call yourself a fan of the Ravens, the team for which he plays.

Has he won a Super Bowl against an elite defense while not turning the ball over once in that particular postseason? Yes. Has he won more playoff games in New England than any other opposing quarterback in the Brady/Belichick era? Yes.

Is he the best quarterback in Ravens history?

Yes, by a landslide.

For the sake of conversation, say you could pick any other quarterback to lead the Ravens. Perhaps you’d pick Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.

Guess what? Despite the fact that they’re all unavailable, they currently have an average 2014 cap figure of $17.15 million; $2.35 million more than Flacco’s 2014 cap figure.

Of those players, only Brady has more Super Bowl MVP awards (2) than Flacco (1), and we’ve seen Flacco perform better than Brady in recent playoff matchups.

Flacco’s 2013 season wasn’t good. He didn’t play well and he needs to get better. But with regards to his resume, foreseeable potential and the current market for starting quarterbacks, you should be thankful he’s a Raven.

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About Mike Fast

I was born and raised in Baltimore. But after a year at York College of Pennsylvania, I transferred to Towson University. At York and Towson, I hosted various radio shows, wrote for the school paper, spoke on a panel RE: college game day presentation at IBS conference in Manhattan and was a public address announcer for multiple sports.
Since 2012, I've been able to cover the Ravens during their training camp as well as work for Johns Hopkins during their home men's lacrosse games.
A life-long goal was realized when I got to attend Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans and witness the Ravens triumph over an excellent 49ers team. What an experience!
If you choose to do so, follow me on twitter: @MikeFastJr. More from Mike Fast

Uh, Rice actually DID take the time to go sit and talk to Kubiak face to face since he has been hired. So your shot at him is unwarranted and wrong. My criticism of Joe isn't that he is taking this time off but that I dont feel he ever goes the extra mile. He does the minimum that he is required to do and if other QB around the league took the same approach it would be fine but they dont. Tom Brady and even Mark Sanchez routinely gets together with a few of their receivers on their own time. When has Flacco ever done that. I am not saying that he is not a hard worker, I just dont think he works as hard as the competition and until he does, he will always be a step below the best. Notice that although the Ravens have not acknowledged the rumors that Joe is a bit a slacker and became complacent last off-season, they havent denied it or set the record straight. That tells me that the fans are not the only people that want more from Joe.
Last thing although the Superbowl was two weeks ago, Joe has been on vacation for almost two months now. His season didnt just end.

Most of us do not agree with what Vinny C. say on the radio but I am afraid I have to agree with him when he said that Flacco should do more in the off season with the offense. Also Flacco seem's like he has thin skin and get's his feeling hurt pretty easily, so when Vinny also said something else that struck me was that even though Kubiak is very respectful to his QB in front of the media and his teammates he known to really pile on his QB's behind closed doors and jumps all over their crap when they continue to do stupid things over and over again. Most of us like Flacco and is grateful for his playoff run last year but let's be honest he still continues to do those type of things like locking down on one receiver and forcing a throw when 2 guys are on his primary WR. things of that nature that young QB's tend to do. I do not think Kubiak is going to tolerate that and it will be interesting to see how their relationship resolve from that.

I think some people just have unrealistic ideas they think that because he signed a market value contract that he should walk on water if you listen to kubiac he states that the run game is the key to having an efficient offense. he should take the time off that he both needs and deserves now and come back refreshed and ready to lead us to another winning season. give him a decent line and average or better receivers and we will all be glad to have him go flacco

Some claim that Joe doesn't do enough work in the offseason. I don't know. But one thing is clear - Joe is finally surrounded by outstanding offensive coaches with the proven ability to get average QBs (e.g., Brian Griese, Jake Plummer, Matt Schuab) to produce at a much higher level. And he's got to learn a new system. It's on Joe to step up, master this system, and raise his performance level significantly from last year. End of discussion.

You must live on Mars. If Flacco were released cap hit this year would be over 30 million cap if you know how contracts work with the cap limits. Flacco has a 52 million guaranteed over 6 year contract.Hhe was paid 29 million in bonus and a salary last year Kubiak cannot talk to or workout players in off season nor can any coaches under 2012 CBA agreement. Flacco should on his own be working with receivers since he could not find them last year!

I would not call Joe a slacker by no means.He and Ben R. are two of the toughest Qb's in football but I must say I would admit he does not do as much with his team as it seem's on the outside that you hear the other qb's doing with their teams.I mean cmon Philly (where I believe he stills lives right outside of Philly) is like an hour and a half up the road you mean to tell me he could not have stop by in the 2 weeks that Gary Kubiak has been on the job and at least spend a few hours with him and to do a getting to know you better session.Something tell me some of the great ones would have done that.You also don't hear about him organizing activities with his offense like the great ones do.

You dont need 6 months of playing catch to get familiar with your receivers, besides Torrey smith only runs 9 routes anyway. Joe is a top 5 qb in the league...anyone who doesnt think so just doesn't watch enough football. He had the worst O line and running game in the league last year. Without Joe we would have won 4 games

Well said. I would like to see Joe have some extra workouts with his targets to work on their skills and familiarity as his weapons. When John Unitas was playing he & Raymond Berry & I think Jimmy Orr they would spend extra hours with Johnny throwing in front of, away from, low & behind the receiver on purpose to develop their abilitiy to make the tough catches that you don't plan but often need to make in live action. It helped them immensely. More work leading his receivers would help Joe & the receivers. Those side sessions would benefit both the receivers and Joe's timing & because he can learn just how far to lead them and they learn where to expect the ball. Joe is aces in my opinion of a quarterback, he throws a beautiful spiral. Given time & protection and better plays he can have an awesome career without being a me person about his stats or having to be better than the elites who everyone touts to beat up on Joe's perfprmance. Joes first 5 years we got more than could have been expected and he's had one 500 season in year 6. Joe will rebound, new offensive coordinator should be just the spark to get him rolling again and give us more years like the 1st 5. By the way we need to thank PEYTON for taking a bullet for the rest of the AFC in the superbowl because Seattle was going to do that to us or just about any of the teams that were in the playoffs.

Pretty sure Kubiak isn't even in Baltimore anyway. As far as working with the other receivers, etc, If Kubes is going to change some of the offense and he & Kubiak haven't met yet, what exactly is Flacco supposed to be working on ?
I really do believe some of this "working out with the receivers, etc type stuff is way overblown.

The new CBA limits the time that the offense will have to learn Kubiak's system. Even if it is tweaked to incorporate some exisiting verbiage and plays, it will be a daunting task to implement the full ZBS and new passing scheme. After Joe gets the playbook and routes from Kubiak, it would be hard to believe that Joe and his backs and receivers dont get together before and between OTAs.
Manning has been known to call receivers right after they were drafted and invite them to his off season sessions. In an interview from the stadium after the Super Bowl. Russell Wilson described off season sessions he had in California with TWENTY ONE offensive "skill" players from the Seahawks and said it was a big reason they had such a great year.
It's hard to believe the Castle wont encourage something similar from Joe and the Ravens offense this year especially when the route tree is being tweaked. I believe Joe will be a leader in this because he knows it is necessary.

Why isn't Terrell Suggs out chasing random people on the street to improve on is lackluster 2nd half performance last season?
Why isn't John Harbaugh out practicing throwing the challenge flag, because he missed a few last season?
Is the entire offensive line staff out pushing tractor trailers to get better at thier craft?
Is Kevin Byrne out selling cars to practice his lies (because we all know that is all he does - sarcasm)?

I also am curious to how Joe responds to Kubiak's "hard coaching". Kubiak insists of throwing the ball away rather than forcing passes into coverage. This will require Joe to tone down his gunslinger mentality and make smarter throws.
Even Tom Brady gets hard coaching. Check out this from 2011. Brady just threw a pick in th end zone and Bill O'Brien got in his face In the post game press conference Brady said he deserved it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33V0hSri6BM

JWS that last part was too funny vut also true..
A question I thought I read that Kubiak has met up with a few of his players already that has been in town since his hiring? You may be right about the playbook thing but I think he can at least talk to them.I thought it was in the paer the other day that he has soken to several of them.

Is Mike Preston still posting and commenting under anonymous names because he lost his credibility as a Professional Writer (because we all know he has to use self-made controversy to cover up for his lack of - integrity)?

Filmstudy - Filmstudy is a sophisticated and comprehensive statistical analysis of the Ravens defense that incorporates a participation-by-play tracking system. This unique analysis is the brain child of the author and provides our readers with the real story behind the Ravens’ top end defensive results in the National Football League. Make Russellstreetreport.com the source for all of your Ravens football news and the forum to talk about what the Ravens fans want to hear most.

Lombardi’s Way - A column from the 24×7 founder that focuses on the Ravens, the NFL, Baltimore, the world of sports or life’s inspirations.

Battle Plans - During the season, you can expect to find thoughtful analysis in each of our Game Previews. We bring out the chalk and then talk X’s and O’s. In the offseason, Dev Panchwagh — The Scientist, digs beneath the surface and serves up insightful commentary on issues facing the Ravens and the NFL. School is in session!